Transcending the Pendulumlike
Movement Between Pleasure and Pain
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
An axis of symmetry is like the point
of equilibrium at the centre of an old balance scales. Around it there are
different factors which are mutually proportional and compensate one another.
Symmetry is the geometrical expression of equilibrium and justice. Everything
is symmetrical in the universe and the spiritual path, and examples of the fact are innumerable. There is an axis of symmetry between
the two brain hemispheres of a human being, and another symmetrical balance
establishes an equilibrium between the material world and the subtle one.
On the physical plane, the third Law of Newton, the law of action and
reaction, is the law of symmetry. On the moral plane, opposite virtues are
complementary and need each other, like courage and prudence, or generosity and
discernment. They find their point of equilibrium in the axis of symmetry that
unites and distinguishes them.
There is a symmetry between similar factors in theosophical life. The greater the wisdom, the greater the
serenity. The mutual equilibrium between
all factors in life exists also in reverse order: the greater the wisdom, the
smaller the ignorance. The greater the discernment, the smaller the imprudence.
In one way or another, all the elements find a balance and compensate each
other. Advanced phases of the theosophical path are no exception to the rule.
There is an axis of symmetry in the relation between the Masters of the Wisdom
and students of esoteric philosophy, and a Raja-Yogi of the Himalayas wrote:
“Every step made by one in our direction will force us to make one
toward him.”[1]
The concept of Pascal’s Sphere
defines the universe as “a sphere whose circumference is nowhere, and whose
center is everywhere”.[2] Each
“center” of the universe, one should add,
is a point of symmetry which unites two rays, identical and opposite to
one another.
Wherever life is, there is a need for equilibrium. Symmetry presides
over the human body, from the head through the feet. There is a symmetry
between the air we absorb and the air we expel, while breathing. The existence
of axes of symmetry in the subtle dimensions of the world expresses the law of
constant harmonization of all things, also known as the Law of Karma.
The Balance Between
Sowing and Harvesting
As we say “what
one plants, one harvests”, we are talking about a symmetrical process. There is an
invisible symmetry between being born and dying, between childhood and old age,
the sky and the earth, the spiritual and the material. The love between a man
and a woman constitutes a symmetrical whole: this is why it can produce another
life. In any given situation, we need to find the axis of symmetry in order to attain
to plenitude and peace.
In the circle
of the Zodiac, each sign has its symmetrical opposite. The virtues and lessons
of every sign exist in proportion and in symmetry to the lessons and virtues of
the sign directly opposite. Pisces teaches the perception of life as a whole, while
Virgo develops our critical vision and perception of details. In Aries we learn
about courage, struggle, and pioneer action; in Libra we seek for peace,
justice, and equilibrium. Taurus transmits stability, and Scorpio inspires
transmutation. Gemini teaches about mental flexibility, and Sagittarius gives
us lessons about one-pointedness. Cancer gives us the love and sensibility of
the Moon, while Capricorn transmits the rigour and discipline of Master Saturn.
Leo shows us how to gather things together and how to gather strength; Aquarius
teaches us about liberation, independence and self-reliance.
We need all of
the lessons. This is why human soul makes a peregrination around the zodiac, successively
inhabiting each Celestial House. It must learn from them all, until it knows
the center of the wheel of universal life and dwells in a soul-dialogue with
it.
Besides human
body, the bodies of plants and animals also possess axes of symmetry. What is on the left side of a living body is proportional to what is on the
right side, and each being is a summary of the planet and of the solar system.
The axis of the
Earth is an axis of symmetry. The daily movement of the Earth around its axis
constantly renews the contact of the planet with the moral and spiritual forces
that govern the solar system.
The annual
peregrination of the Earth around the Sun obeys to an axis of symmetry which is
reflected, as we saw, in the opposite Houses of the Zodiac. Everything that
exists in the universe develops creatively and in accordance with the Law of Equilibrium,
whose popular name is law of karma. The emotional world of humans is far
from being an exception.
The Magic Symmetry
of Feelings
A lasting center of
happiness can be found above life’s pendulumlike oscillation between pleasure
and pain.
Each personal desire will
likely provoke a corresponding undesired pain or frustration until the
accumulated experience sums zero. Thus the point of equilibrium in the pendulumlike
movement in life is attained in the center of one’s own consciousness.
The greater one’s
responsibility - for having, say, evoked the Path-, the more exacting will be
the satisfaction-frustration equation in one’s life.
Having adopted a noble
goal, if you do not look for Tapah
(austerity), Tapah will look for you.
Apparent difficulties are but involuntary, or karmically generated, forms of Tapah.
We must thank the Law,
then, for kindly helping us along the way to Tapah, which allows us to discover by ourselves the Equilibrium at
the root of all pendulumlike movements.
Kahlil Gibran wrote about
the symmetry of life regarding personal happiness.
He said, in his book “The Prophet”:
“When you are sorrowful,
look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for
that which has been your delight. Some of you
say, ‘Joy is greater than sorrow’, and others say, ‘Nay, sorrow is the
greater’. But I say unto you, they are inseparable. Together they come, and
when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep
upon your bed. Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and
your joy. Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced. When the
treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy
and your sorrow rise or fall.” [3]
True bliss and well-being
can be found above the outer paradox
and contrast of personal joy and personal afflictions.
Theosophy teaches a
transcendent form of Equilibrium. Absolute Justice and peace to all beings are two
secret laws of nature.
NOTES:
[1] “The Mahatma
Letters”, TUP, Pasadena, CA, USA, 1992, 493 pp.
See the last lines in Letter LXV, p. 366.
[2] See the text
“The Center of Pascal’s Sphere”, by Carlos Cardoso Aveline. The article is
available at our associated websites.
[3] “The Prophet”,
Kahlil Gibran, Senate, Singapore, 114 pp., 2004, see pp. 36-37.
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An
initial and shorter version of the present article was published in the January
2013 edition of “The Aquarian
Theosophist”, with no indication as to its author.
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In September 2016, after
a careful analysis of the state of the esoteric movement worldwide, a group of students
decided to form the Independent Lodge of
Theosophists, whose priorities include the building of a better future in
the different dimensions of life.
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